Try-on garment hanger



May 5, 1953 L. RKLYONS TRY-ON- GARMENT HANGER Filed Nov. 1, 1949 INVENTOR .ZeozadJzasR [yczus BY 3 Fans? ATTORNEY Patented May 5, 1953 TRY-N GARMENT HANGER Leonadus K. Lyons, Billings, Mont.

Application November 1, 1949, Serial No. 124,819

1 Claim.

This invention relates to garment hangers of the general type comprising a bow-shaped member upon which a garment is adapted to be suspendedand a hook or similar fastening for supporting the hanger on a rack.

An important object of my invention is to provide a modified form of garment hanger of the above character that is especially suitable for use in ladies apparel shops and stores for displaying dresses and the like and which is so constructed and arranged as to permit a customer to try-on or drape a dress acros the front of her figure while viewing herself in a mirror without the necessity of removing the dress from the hanger.

More particularly the invention aims to provide a garment hanger in which the usual hook or other means for supporting the hanger on a rack is replaced by a collar capable of encircling the neck of a customer so as to support the bow of the hanger shoulder-high, thus allowing the dress to hang more or less naturally while leaving the hands of the customer free. In furtherance of this end, the bow of the hanger in accordance with a preferred form of the invention is laterally curved to correspond generally to the curvature of the chest between the shoulders in order that the dress drapes more nearly in conformity with the contour of the body.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description of a, pre- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a try-on garment hanger;

Figure 2 is a top view of the garment hanger of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a side View of a modified form of garment hanger;

Figure 4 is a side view of another modified form of hanger;

Figure 5 is a side view of still another modified form of hanger; and

Figure 6 is a side view of a further modified form of a hanger.

In selecting a dress or similar garment on display in a shop it is common practice for a woman customer to remove from the rack a dress supported on a hanger and to drape the dress across the front of her figure in order to judge, by viewing herself in a full-length mirror, of the suitability of the dress to her person. This is awkward in the case of the usual type of garment hangers having a hook for supporting them on a rack for the reason that the hook engages under the chin of the customer and, beside presenting the possibility of injury to herself or clothing prevents holding the dress shoulder-high as it should be held to properly position the dress relative to her figure. If, in an attempt to avoid this objection the hanger is turned so that the hook points outwardly, the dress then does not drape naturally and consequently does not show off to best advantage.

In order to provide a garment hanger that may be quickly and conveniently engaged with and disengaged from a rack and also used by a customer in the foregoing manner for trying on a dress; I propose to construct the hanger as follows:

The garment hanger, as shown in Fig. 1, comprises an elongated bow member I preferably made of plastic but which may be made of wood, metal or any other suitable material. This bow member may be of any suitable shape but is usual- 1y curved in a lengthwise direction along its upper edge and is adapted to extend crosswise between the arm-hole openings of a dress G (indicated in broken lines) and to support the dress by its shoulder strap in a conventional manner.

Midlength of the bow member upon its upper edge there is provided an arcuately curved recess L of such size and shape as to encircle the forepart of th neck of a normal size woman. A circular collar 3 of flexible spring metal is cemented or otherwise secured to the wall of the recess, this collar being split transversely, as indicated at 3, to divide the collar into two parts 3a and Ebwhich together encircle the sides and back of the neck.

The terminal portions of the parts 30. and 3b of the collar lie in superposed relation to close the collar at the back of the neck but the part-s are sufficiently elastic as to be easily flexed apart to open the collar, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and to allow the collar to be placed about the neck of a woman customer and support the bow member shoulder-high on her chest. The spring metal composing the collar 3 is made comparatively wide except where it-traverses the wall of the recess 2 so as to better distribute the pressure over the neck, and this collar preferably is covered with a sleeve of fabric or rubber (not shown) to avoid chafing or chilling the neck of the customer.

In order to allow the dress supported on the hanger to hang more naturally when the customer is making a try-on, the bow member is laterally curved, as best indicated in Fig, 2, so as to correspond generally to the curvature of a womans chest between the shoulders thus causing the dress supported on the bow member to more or less follow the contour and drape around the sides of the body.

In the use of the garment hanger just described, a dress G upon display in a shop will be supported on the hanger in the usual manner and with the collar 3 supporting the hanger from the rail of a dress rack (not shown) A woman customer wishing to try on the dress will remove the hanger from the rack, by virtue 'of the release afforded by the split collar, and by springing apart the parts 3a and 3b (as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1) will engage the collar around her neck. Upon release of the parts of the collar they wi1l return to their original position due to their inherent spring action and, in conjunction with the recess 2 in the bow, will completely but loosely encircle the neck of the customer. Because the bow is supported approximately shoulder high and is curved to conform generally to the curvature of the customers chest, the dress will drape down, across and partially around the figure of the customer showing oil the dress to best advantage. The customer viewing herself in a mirror obtains a better and more accurate conception of how the dress will appear when actually worn on her figure, and at the same time her hands are left free to adjust the drape of the dress to her figure.

In Figure 3 is shown another form that my garment hanger may take. This embodiment of the invention corresponds generally to that of Figs. 1 and 2, previously described, comprising a bow member 5 having an arcuate recess Q therein along its upper edge midway of its length, and a neck-encircling collar 7 composed of two parts la and lb of a metal band. The parts la and lb instead of being integrally united are independently hinged, as indicated at 8, at their ends to the bow member at opposite ends of the recess 6. The parts la and lb may be swung to open and closed positions to permit engaging the hanger around the neck of a customer. To retain the collar closed, the free ends of the parts la and lb are provided with an interlock 9.

The garment hanger illustrated in Fig. 4 coinprises a bow number It having a neck-engaging recess ll similar to the hangers of Figs. 1, 2 and 3. This hanger is provided with a neck-encircling collar l2 comprising two flexible cords Ma and I2?) having one of their ends attached to the bow member at opposite ends of the recess I l and their other free ends provided with mating fasteners which in the form of the hanger illustrated comprise a stud l3 and a resilient socket 13a adapted to detachably receive the stud.

Still another form that the garment hanger may take is illustrated in Fig. 5. In this form of hanger the bow I4 is made of bent spring wire, the free ends Ma and Mt) of which are arched upwardly from the upper edge of the bow midway of its length to define a collar I5 adapted to encircle the sides and back of the neck of a customer. The free ends are suificiently flexible to '4 permit being readily spread apart when the hanger is placed around the neck of a customer but they close together under spring action when released to retain treir ends in abutting relation. The ends Ma and Nb of the collar are desirably provided with rubber sleeves l6 and 1611.

In the modification of Fig. 6 a bow ll, similar to the bow of Figs. 1 and 2, a single strip of flexible metal defines the neck-engaging collar l8. One end of the strip is anchored, as indicated at IS, in the bow while the bthe free end terminates adjacent the bow on the opposite side of the recess '20.

While I have described several kinds of collars that may be utilized in connection with the tryon garment hanger of my invention, these are by way of example only and manifestly various other collars capable of supporting the hanger on a rack and also of being quickly and comfortably placed about the neck of a woman customer may be employed instead of those described above. Also protective sleeves, cushions or other coverings may or may not be used, as desired, in combination with any 'of the collars although ordinarily such coverings will be found desirable both to insulate the collar from the neck and also to provide more comfortable contact or the collar with the neck.

Manifestly various changes in construction, arrangement and design may be made in the form of the garment hangers described above without departing from the spirit of my inven tion as defined. in the following claim.

I claim:

A try-on garment hanger adapted to support a dress or similar garment in draped relation on the figure of a person, said garment hanger comprising a bow member of rigid material for "supporting the dress and being of a length sum-crest to extend between the armholes of the dress, said bow member having an upper longitudinal edge the outer portions of which are convexly' curved and a lower concavely curved longitudinal edge, and said bow member being curved out of its bodily plane so as to conform approximately to the curvature of the chest of a person between the shoulders, and a collar projecting upwardly from the upper longitudinal edge of the bow member at the central portion thereof, said collar being composed of springy material and normally curved to encircle the sides and back of the neck of a person and support the bow member at approximately chest-high elevation upon the person and said collar having one end anchored to the bow member and being freely flexible to permit placing the collar around the neck.

LEONADUS R. LYQNS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 115,238 Raiford May 23, 1871 1,859,353 Boone May 24, 1952 2,303,095 Sinclair Nov. 24. 1942 

